Dear Parishioners,
These last several months have been difficult and challenging to say the least. Closed restaurants, churches, and movie theaters; empty parks, sports arenas, and beaches; not to mention shut down businesses and the economy—this has been the new normal since the middle of March. The times have not been exactly uplifting. So it’s time for a change as life seems to be opening up bit by bit, and we are lifted up with the hope of recovery and better days ahead.
How appropriate it is that we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension when as we hear in the first reading that on a mountain in Galilee, among his disciples, Jesus was lifted up before their eyes in a cloud which took him from their sight (Acts 1:1–11). While His glorified body ascended into the heavens, so too must the spirits of the disciples be lifted up. And so too should ours be as well, for Jesus is showing us our destiny. But first we have work to do. In the gospel, Jesus gives the disciples and us our marching orders (Mt 28:16–20). He gives us the Great Commission to baptize and teach. In other words, we are to live and practice and share our faith boldly and without compromise. That’s a challenge, but we don’t have to do it alone. For his closing words are: “Know that I am with you always until the end of the world.”
Fr. Carl
